Prodigal Ponderings — woodworking tips RSS



My Biggest Fan - Lessons of Life

Over the past several days I faced a familiar woodworker's crisis: one of my favorite tools, my lathe, quit working.  I had purchased an inexpensive starter lathe awhile back and put out several nice products including pepper grinders, salt shakers and French rolling pins. Now it was time for an upgrade.   Woodworkers love their tools and I’m no different. Many, like myself, also love the research involved before our next purchase; then there’s the weighing of price, practicality and performance.  This is where my #1 fan comes in.   My beautiful wife is not only my best friend but also my greatest encourager.  She knows me; she listens to me, and she pays attention.  As I was wrestling through my decision...

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The Air We Breathe...... Managing Workshop Dust and Air Quality

Being a small shop owner I realized one of the last things I considered when setting up my shop was how I was going to clear the air with all the sawdust and fumes I was creating.  I do have the luxury of a covered deck outside my shop so much of my staining, sealing and sanding takes place outside, weather permitting.  I also use a mask when working with chemicals, turning on my lathe, etc., but that still doesn't alleviate the inside problem where my most active power tools are: the table saw, miter saw and router to name a few.     Like many others, my shop started small and slowly grew; and one of my first purchases...

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Around My Shop--The Crosscut Sled

  Before continuing with the other tools in my shop I wanted to add a few comments in regards to my table saw; specifically sleds and jigs. A great way to practice and hone your table saw skills is to create sleds & jigs that will save you time and help you with more precise cuts.  Since my table saw is relatively small it came with a rather inferior miter gauge which I improved by simply adding a longer piece of MDF to the gauge. I’ve also built a sacrificial fence and a couple of jointer sleds that have saved me time and money in “squaring up” my rough wood.      Although all sleds will get their use and help...

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Around My Shop

I blogged before on some shop essentials like safety, workbench, electrical outlets, etc but here I wanted to hone in a bit on what kind of tools I use and how effective they are. I don't have a massive shop,so having a large table saw or full size drill press is not practical for me, but if you have limited space and a limited budget there are still ways to create quality products. I have a portable Kobalt Table saw, a bench top drill press, bench top bandsaw, benchtop lathe....are you noticing a theme? Although bench top tools limit the size of the work piece they do not limit the quality. Take my table saw for instance; it's a Kobalt 15-Amp,...

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DeWalt 735x Planer............A Beast!

As far as planers are concerned I'm not sure you can get any better than the DeWalt DW735X.  The motor on this baby is powerful and the blades cut evenly and flush; even the hardest of hardwoods. I purchased my planer almost a year ago and have made about 3 dozen end grain cutting boards along with various other woodworking beauties.   I've used everything from Hard Maple to Walnut to Bubinga -one of the most beautiful yet also one of the hardest woods there is, and oftentimes a blade killer; despite this my Dewalt planer keeps producing quality results time and again.  Nothing will ruin a planer quicker than planing end grain boards, but the DeWalt 735X hasn't missed...

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